Nigeria Building Africa’s Biggest Free To Air TV Platform – Minister
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Loading ...Nigeria is building what will be Africaโs biggest and most lucrativeย Free To Air Television platform, with the ongoing transition fromย analogue to digital television in the country, the Minister ofย Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.
”With over 24 million TV households, and being the capital of Africanย creativity in Music and Film, I am now more thanย convinced that we will also become the capital of Television in Africaย within the next few years,” the Minister said at the launch of theย digital television in Osogbo, Osun State,ย on Friday.
He said everyone, including mobile phone companies, advertisers,ย content producers, electronic manufacturers, Nollywood and Stateย Government, stands to benefit from the transition.
Alhaji Mohammed said mobile phone companies should leverage on the setย top boxes that give owners access to the free television channels toย get data to the 24 million TV households in the country, adding:ย ”With the boxes we have introduced, your data can be taken into everyย home in Nigeria for use in consuming video.”
He said the transition will also benefit advertisers, noting: ”We areย finally going to be able to bring all those 180 million eyeballs toย the doorsteps of your product, with the technology that will make itย easier for you to target identified customers and make every Naira youย spend on advertising worth its while.”
The Minister said content producers will no longer pay to get theirย content aired, but will instead be paid, thanks to myriad of channelsย and a well-managed Audience Measurement System.
He urged Electronics Manufacturers to, through the massive sale ofย television sets, decoders and dongles, provide jobs for Nigerians andย become exporters of the appliances to the rest of Africa.
”To Nollywood, your movies can now be sold directly to all homes inย Nigeria without the need of a VCD, DVD or even the Internet, using theย DSO platform to market and sell films,” Alhaji Mohammed said, whileย also advising state governments to take advantage of the Digitalย Switch Over (DSO) platform to engage residents, disseminateย information and for job creation in both the production andย distribution sectors.
With the DSO launch in Osogbo, Osun State, digital television has nowย been rolled out in five states and the Federal Capital Territoryย (FCT).
The DSO was formally launched in Jos, Plateau State, in April 2016,ย followed by the FCT, Kwara, Kaduna and Enugu States.
